Walking the Prank
by MistressOfImladris
Summary: Those traitorous twins are at it again, but this time, they've dragged Legolas into their latest scheme as well. Lobsters, pranks, and declarations of war follow. For LadyLindariel.


**A/N:** I wrote this as an FF birthday present for my dear friend, LadyLindariel. Hope you enjoy, mellon nín, and happy belated birthday! :)

* * *

Legolas Greenleaf, the only son of the king of Mirkwood, trudged away from the archery fields, muttering to himself in annoyance. The day's training session had gone badly from the very beginning. Glorfindel, his instructor, had found countless tiny mistakes in the way he stood and the way he held the bow. Valar, he had even complained that Legolas was as good as dead if he insisted on doing a little victory dance every time the arrow hit the bulls-eye.

As he entered the hallway leading to his chambers, he met up with his twin sidekicks, Elladan and Elrohir.

'Ah, Legolas, how did training go?' Elrohir asked merrily. He knew well what it was like to study under the Balrog-slayer's watchful eye, having been one of Glorfindel's victims since childhood.

Legolas scowled. 'Very well, thank you. He did mention that you and Elladan did exceptionally badly this morning.'

Elladan snorted, patting Legolas' shoulder sympathetically. 'I'm sorry to disappoint you, but we do not have training today. Adar says that 'we are not yet recuperated enough from our near-death experience with the toxic lobsters to return to such stressful and attention-demanding activities.''

Legolas' face brightened somewhat. 'I had heard about that incident. What happened?'

The twins exchanged a glance. 'Tis a tale that hardly calls for telling,' Elrohir replied at last. 'It bored Adar nearly to tears when he heard about it first.'

Elladan smacked his brother. 'The only reason he was in tears was because we were nearly beyond his reach, thanks to those dreadful creatures.'

Elrohir shrugged. 'So Glorfindel worked you hard today?' he asked Legolas.

Legolas glared, causing the younger twin to nod.

'I see. Is it not fair, then, that we should... well, that we should try his patience right back?' Elrohir pressed. 'Elladan and I have come up with a simply beautiful plan.'

The idea sounded appealing to the prince. Opening the door to his chambers, he made a grand gesture. 'Step right in, my lords.'

Once all three were seated, Elladan began. 'We heard Meril complaining this morning that the kitchens are being drowned in honey, so fruitful have the hives been this year.' He glanced slyly at Elrohir. 'So we were thinking that maybe if we could find a bucket of honey and a pair or two of Glorfindel's boots...'

Legolas arched an eyebrow. 'Are you sure Glorfindel will not slay us, too?'

Elrohir clapped his hands to his heart. 'Us? Why, he looks on Elladan and me as his own sons! He will take it for nothing more than it is: a childish whim.'

Legolas thought for a moment. The more he reflected on the idea, the more he liked it. It was small and harmless – unless bees were attracted to the honey and the Balrog-slayer's foot came in contact with their stingers. 'Why not?' he said at last. 'When shall we do it?'

'Late tonight,' Elladan decided. 'We can secure the honey this evening and hide it in my closet. Then this evening, one of us can creep into Glorfindel's room and take his boots captive.'

For some time the three plotted until all was decided. Legolas had brought up the idea of adding some eggs to the mix, and the thought was met with glee. For the rest of the day, Legolas, Elladan, and Elrohir exchanged furtive grins with each other as the time drew nearer for them to spring their prank.

* * *

Late that evening, Legolas crept to the twins' room. The brothers were wide awake, sitting on Elladan's bed in excited anticipation. When the door slid open to reveal the third conspirator, Elrohir jumped up and tiptoed across the floor to retrieve the bucket of honey and a dozen eggs.

'You two stay here,' Elladan said with a wink. 'I'll go fetch the third ingredient.'

Slipping out the room, the eldest son of Elrond made his way silently down the hall. However, instead of continuing on towards Glorfindel's room, he stopped at his parents'. He paused outside the door nervously, straining his ears for any sound that meant the lord and lady were awake. Reassured by the silence, Elladan cautiously opened the door and slipped into the bedroom.

Elrond and Celebrian were fast asleep, and Elladan kept one eye on them as he inched further into the room. He could see the faint outline of two pairs of his father's boots in front of one of the armchairs. After what seemed to be hours, he finally reached them and, grabbing both sets, turned to make the return journey.

He was halfway to the door when he heard his mother mutter something and turn over. Freezing, he glanced around frantically for a hiding place. He was standing in the middle of the room, bathed in the moonlight that poured through the gap in the curtains. Returning his gaze to his parents, he willed them to remain asleep.

At last all was quiet again, and Elladan dared to breathe. Swiftly gaining the door, the twin slipped out, all four boots held safely under his arms. Running silently back towards his room, he breathed a relieved sigh when the door was shut softly behind him.

'Got them,' he whispered. 'Glorfindel didn't hear a thing.' As Legolas turned his back to pick up the bucket of honey, Elladan threw his brother a wicked grin, which was returned enthusiastically.

In short order, an inch or two of honey filled the bottoms of one pair of boots, while a dozen eggs were cracked into the other two. Once everything was ready, Elrohir handed the basket of remaining eggs to Legolas. 'Bring these back to the kitchen,' he ordered. 'But be stealthy. Some who stay up in the Hall of Fire till all hours stop in for a snack as they retire.'

Legolas nodded. 'I will take my time,' he promised. 'Are you sure Glorfindel will not kill us?'

Elrohir shook his head emphatically. 'He is used to these things,' he reassured. 'He will not mind overmuch.'

 _Adar will,_ Elladan's voice sounded in his head. _We will be lucky to see another sunset, my brother._

Elrohir shrugged as Legolas left the room, basket in hand. 'You take the bucket of honey back to... where it belongs,' he whispered, glancing furtively towards the door and grinning wickedly. 'I will replace the boots. Where exactly were they?'

'In front of the chair where he normally puts them,' Elladan answered. 'The brown ones were on the left.'

Elrohir nodded. 'This is going to be good.'

* * *

As Elrohir slipped into his parents' room, the same apprehension that had filled Elladan assailed him. If either Elrond or Celebrian woke up, he was toast. _Ah well,_ he thought to himself. _It would go well with the honey, at least._

Creeping across the room just as his twin had barely fifteen minutes before. The boots were placed exactly as they had been before, and Elrohir soon found himself safely on the other side of the bedroom door. Reaching over his shoulder, he gave himself a congratulatory pat on the back. _Well played, Elrohir,_ he complemented himself. _You, my friend, are a genius._

Meanwhile, Elladan, instead of returning the honey to its correct place in the storage rooms near the kitchen, ran silently down the hall towards Legolas' room and hid the bucket in a corner of the wardrobe. A small twinge of guilt momentarily hit him, and he almost retrieved the bucket.

 _Think of it as revenge for suffering that humiliating defeat on the archery field,_ he told himself sternly, remembering the unpleasant event from a few days before. _Legolas deserves this._

Quickly slipping out the room so as to ensure that he would not be caught by the Elven prince, he returned to his room and flopped back onto his bed. His brother and friend had yet to return from their own tasks.

A few moments later, the door opened yet again and the blond-haired conspirator stepped in. 'Is that all?' he asked, eyeing the twin in excitement.

Elladan nodded. 'Everything is ready. Now we have only to wait to watch it unfold.'

* * *

Morning dawned bright and early. Elrond woke as the sun tinted the sky pink behind the mountains. Glancing to the side, he saw that his wife was still asleep and opted to let her remain so. Carefully slipping out of bed, he pulled on his clothes before glancing towards the pair of boots that stood untouched before the chair.

Opting for the black pair, he leaned down and slipped his foot in. His eyes widened as he felt thick liquid oozing between his toes and squishing underneath his sole. With a startled yell, he yanked the boot off and tossed it across the room.

Celebrian jerked awake. Her eyes immediately landed on her husband, who was hopping ungraciously on one foot, a string of colourful curses streaming from his lips.

'Whatever is wrong, my love?' she asked in slight confusion.

'Honey!' Elrond spluttered. 'Those insolent little –'

Celebrian was hard-put to hide a smile. Now that she realized what had happened, her concern died away and was replaced with amusement. It was rare that she saw her sedate husband attempting to balance on one foot, while the other dripped with golden-yellow honey.

Elrond glared at the boot in disgust from where it lay on its side across the room, observing the small rivers of honey that now trailed out of it onto the floor. Unthinkingly, he reached for the pair of brown boots and thrust his as-of-yet clean left foot into the soft leather.

Crunches met his ears as his foot came in contact with the pieces of shell that the twins and Legolas had dropped in after cracking the eggs. Slime, for the second time that day, surrounded his foot and the second boot went hurtling across the bedroom.

'And eggs!' Elrond shouted, his face growing redder by the second. 'So help me, when I get my hands on those rotten little sneaks...' He trailed off, pulling off his sodden stockings and dropping them on the floor.

Celebrian could no longer hide her giggles, though she did go so far as to muffle them in her pillow. 'Be glad that our sons are the only rotten ones here,' she said around chuckles. 'They could have found spoiled eggs if they had wanted to, I am sure.'

Elrond growled menacingly before moving towards the wardrobe. Pulling out a third pair of boots, he held them upside down for a moment before cautiously reaching inside to search for nettles or some other unwanted guest. Finding nothing, he slipped his feet – which he had forcibly cleaned off on his nightclothes – into the boots and strode purposefully to the door.

He went first to the twins' room, knowing that they would no doubt still be in bed. The moment he entered the room, he knew for a fact that neither Elf was asleep – unless they were both caught in the midst of an amusing dream. Both twins quivered with ill-concealed laughter beneath their covers.

Coming to stand in between the two beds, he placed his hands on his hips and waited for his sons to open their eyes.

At last Elladan did so, followed by Elrohir. Instantly, an expression of the purest innocence masked their features, and they sat up in mock-concern.

'Is something wrong, Adar?' Elrohir asked softly, desperately trying not to laugh.

'Indeed,' Elrond growled. 'Do you know anything about honey and eggs in my boots?'

'Good heavens, Adar, do you actually think that we would be foolish enough to prank you, our own father? We are perfectly aware that if we did, retribution would be painful and no doubt fatal.'

Elrohir nodded in agreement. 'As for Legolas, I have heard before that he was once in the habit of pouring honey into Thranduil's boots, until the king forbade it. Perhaps the temptation grew too strong and he caved into his childish whims.'

Elrond raised an eyebrow, not unaware of the fact that the twins had smoothly come up with a neutral answer, saying neither yea nor nay to his question. 'In that case, you two will not be opposed to coming to the prince's room to search for _incriminating evidence_.' Even as he spoke, he bent down and plucked a small piece of eggshell from the floor.

The twins paled.

'Oh, haha,' Elladan said weakly after a moment of silence. 'How funny!'

'That must be from the time we had dinner in here as we recovered from the lobster incident,' Elrohir continued, sending a scathing glance towards his brother. 'We had hard-boiled eggs and... and honey on bread.'

'I see,' their father answered dangerously. 'Come along, all the same.'

With great trepidation, the twins meekly followed their father down the hall towards Legolas' room. Out of courtesy, Elrond knocked on the door and entered at the prince's rather bleary call of admittance.

'Good morning, Legolas,' Elrond said pleasantly, his countenance completely different from what it had been only moment before.

Legolas took in the nervous expressions of his twin friends and swallowed. 'Good morning?' he answered, the statement coming out as a question.

Elrond wandered over to the window and leaned against the frame. 'Legolas, it seems some wicked prankster thought it would be amusing to put honey and eggs in my boots.'

He watched in satisfaction as Legolas' eyes grew wide. 'My sons tell me that you used to have a habit of doing such things to your father, and I was wondering if perhaps you had anything to do with this incident.'

'My lord,' Legolas squeaked, glancing furiously at the twins. 'I – I would never think to pull a prank on you! And as for that ridiculous notion that I used to do so to my father... I would sooner go to tea with Sauron that prank Adar.'

At this point, the identical brothers tried inconspicuously to vacate the room.

'Stay!' Elrond commanded, pinning his fiercest glare on the cowering twins. He returned his attention to Legolas. 'Then I am sure you do not mind it if I look around for evidence planted against you by certain miscreants I could name.'

Legolas breathed a sigh of relief. The eggs were safely in the kitchen; the honey was wherever Elladan had gotten it from in the first place. Elrond would find nothing in his room. Unless...

He narrowed his eyes at Elladan and Elrohir, who's eyes were now following their father around the room, growing wider and wider as the Elf-lord neared the closet. Slipping out of bed, he marched over to them and glared. 'Very funny!' he hissed.

The sound of the wardrobe door clicking shut caused all three younger Elves to return their attention to Elrond. The Elf-lord was triumphantly holding the bucket of honey in one hand, while the other still held the doorhandle.

'So who's idea was it?' he asked after a moment of watching the three squirming.

The twins pointed at each other. 'His!'

'But it was not meant for you, Lord Elrond!' Legolas continued. 'At least, _I_ did not intend it for you. They told me it was for Glorfindel.'

The dark look that was directed at the twins had the wrong effect. Instead of intimidating the brothers, the glare caused them to break down in laughter. Legolas had been taken in perfectly, and his expression as he saw the bucket of honey in their father's hand... It had been priceless!

'Very funny,' Legolas repeated, taking a step towards them. 'I think that I may perish of hysteria.'

Elrond sighed before walking towards the door. 'The three of you may come to my study after breakfast,' he commanded. 'I will have sufficient time between now and then to come up with a fitting punishment.'

The twins' laughter doubled, as did Legolas' ire.

As Elrond left the room, bucket in hand, the last words he heard were from the Elf prince:

'Of course you know this means _war_.'

The End

 **A/N:** And yes, I did steal the last line from Bugs Bunny. XD Anyways, hope you all enjoyed, and please drop a review if you have time!

Also, I'm sorry if the linebreaks are all wonky. They were acting up as usual.


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